Singapore’s top envoy heads to North Korea in rare visit

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s top diplomat is making a rare visit to North Korea as part of a regional tour that includes stops in China and South Korea as the city-state seeks to boost diplomatic engagement amid intensifying geopolitical tensions.

Foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan is visiting North Korea from Tuesday as part of a five-day trip from May 24 to May 28, according to Singapore’s ministry of foreign affairs.

His last official visit to the isolated state came ahead of a summit in 2018 between president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Singapore has maintained cordial ties with North Korea for decades, but trade between the two has been largely frozen by global sanctions imposed on Pyongyang to punish it for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

Balakrishnan will then head to Seoul for the first official visit by a Singaporean foreign minister in nearly two decades. Singapore is the sixth-largest trading partner for South Korea.

Travel between the Korean capitals is uncommon for diplomats and could open a possible channel between rivals on the divided peninsula. Singapore, however, has not publicly said whether it intends to play such a role.

The trip by Balakrishnan also reflects a broader push by Asian nations to deepen ties beyond traditional partners as governments navigate an increasingly unpredictable geopolitical environment, exacerbated by the recent US-led war in Iran.

For Singapore, those efforts have yielded new trade agreements in Latin America, an expanded economic presence in the Middle East and plans to establish its first embassy in East Africa.

Balakrishnan began his trip in Beijing, where he met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. The two called for a ceasefire in the Middle East, according to a readout. They also agreed that all ships and aircraft should enjoy the right of unimpeded transit passage in straits used for international navigation.

المصدر: Free Malaysia Today